Lacy wins, earns fight with Taylor Little Rock’s Jermain Taylor will fight former Olympic teammate Jeff Lacy on Nov. 15 in a super middleweight bout, sources confirmed to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette late Wednesday night. The site of the fight is still undetermined. The deal with HBO was signed Wednesday night just before Lacy’s fight with Epafanio Mendoza in Cabazon, Calif. Lacy (24-1, 17 KOs ) looked vulnerable and was hurt several times, but won a close majority decision over the journeyman Mendoza in a fight he was expected to win handily. Still, sources said HBO offered considerably more money for Taylor (27-2-1, 17 KOs ) to fight Lacy than Englishman Carl Froch, the other opponent in consideration, with the network banking on Lacy’s greater name recognition. Lou DiBella, Taylor’s promoter, could not confirm details of the agreement. According to sources, however, there are ongoing discussions between all parties and the World Boxing Council to sanction the Taylor-Lacy fight as a WBC super middleweight title eliminator. The deal will call for Froch to fight undefeated Jean Pascal for the vacant WBC super middleweight title in November. The winner of Taylor-Lacy would then be guaranteed an immediate fight with the Froch-Pascal winner for the WBC title. An official announcement is expected today.
— Chris Givens GOLF Maggio, Cothran advance to final 32 Conway’s Mary Michael Maggio and Springdale’s Chelsey Cothran both advanced to the second round of match play with victories on Wednesday at the U. S. Junior Girls at West Hartford, Conn. Maggio defeated Canadian Jessica Wallace 1-up in a match that saw the lead never get more than 1-up throughout. Maggio, who never trailed, took a 1-up lead three different times in the match, the last coming with a birdie on the par-5 16 th hole. Maggio then won the match by making pars on 17 and 18. Cothran pulled one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, beating Ani Gulugian of Irvine, Calif., 5-and-4. Cothran won the first four holes of the front nine, and then after letting the lead slip to 2-up, won Nos. 9, 10 and 12 to build the lead to 5-up. Play was delayed more than five hours by rain on Wednesday. Maggio’s next match is against Amy Anderson of Oxbow, N. D., who upset Daniela Lendl of Goshen, Conn. Cothran will play Mariah Stackhouse of Riverdale, Ga.
— Jeffrey Slatton BASKETBALL Wings win tournament pool The Arkansas Wings 15-under boys team went undefeated in winning their pool at the Reebok Invitational in Las Vegas. The Hawks defeated One Path Away 69-57 in the first game. Davyon McKinney led the Hawks with 16 points and Myles Taylor added 14 points. Taylor scored 20 points to lead the Hawks to a 65-54 victory over the Southwest Missouri Titans in the second game. Taylor Smith added 16 points. Cooper Vint scored 19 points to lead the Hawks in their 57-45 victory over New Mexico Desperado Aztec in the third game. Taylor scored 18 points and Smith added 16 points. The Wings begin play in the championship round today. SWIMMING UALR hosts championships The Arkansas Dolphin-Laser Swim Team will host the State Swimming Championship this weekend at the Donaghey Student Center Pool on the campus of UALR. More than 300 athletes representing 11 teams will compete. The competition begins on Friday at 4 p.m. and concludes Sunday. For more information contact Keith McAfee at (501 ) 960-0493.
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